"Alright class, we'll be driving for an hour before our first bathroom stop so if you need to go, then go," Aizawa called out. "Those who aren't on the bus in ten minutes are left behind."

Izuku had gone to the bathroom at least three times before he finally got on the bus. Could you blame him? They were about to ride straight into an ambush! Katsuki didn't seem all that great either, he clearly hadn't slept the night before. Everyone who knew what was going to happen in the next few days looked rough, actually. It was no surprise, really. Aizawa could tell, too, making his way over to the ash blonde and muttering something in his ear.

"I'm fine," Katsuki grunted, turning away. "Really, I don't need your babying. Just focus on keeping the other students safe, I can handle myself."

"If you say so," Aizawa sighed, not believing his student even the slightest bit. Nonetheless, they left without any problems, arriving at the familiar cliffside a little over an hour later. The Wild Wild Pussycats welcomed them before sending their class off the cliff and straight into the forest. All members of the Assembly were already prepared for that, making sure their classmates didn't hurt themselves in the fall and quickly coordinating their attacks on the first few monsters.

Momo had created comms ahead of time and every member of the alliance had been wearing them since the bus left UA grounds to increase communication between them. They'd be separated during the attack, there was nothing they could do about that, and didn't want to go in fully blind. Aizawa had approved of it, holding onto one of the comms himself so he could check in on them when necessary. With their improved teamwork, the class made their way to camp quicker then they originally did, yet they were still just as exhausted.

Izuku tried to introduce himself to Kota again, only to get punched right underneath his stomach. Katsuki snorted, although quickly at his boyfriend's side to ask if he was okay. After that he went through the motions: putting his bags away, eating dinner, preparing himself for their bath... He found comfort in these mundane things, even though he knew for a fact they wouldn't last. Their training would be hell tomorrow, even without the upcoming villain attack.

"You sure seem to be enjoying the water."

He opened his eyes, watching Kacchan slip into the water next to him. It's been a while since he saw him naked, let alone without all the scars he'll sustain in the future. Izuku glanced at his hand at that thought. It was a lot less messed up than it had been in his previous life, there weren't even any scars to speak of yet. So maybe some things could be avoided? Then again, Momo still had signs of the burns she sustained during the sportsfestival...

"Whatcha thinking about?" Kacchan asked.

"Your flawless skin," Izuku admitted. "I-I mean! It's just-! I'm not used to seeing you like this- Uh, without, you know- Without your scars a-and-"

Katsuki laughed at his flustered rambling, simply leaning onto him and carefully taking his right hand, lifting it out of the water.

"I get what you're saying..." he sighed.

"Oi, just warning you guys that you're in a public bath, alright?" Eijirou said from a few seats away. "Try to keep it in your pants. Or well, uh, fictional pants, I guess?"

"Tch, fuck off shitty hair! We've never even-" Katsuki hissed, cutting himself off as his cheeks turned pink. Izuku felt himself turn red at the implications, hiding his face in his hands. This was so embarrassing!

"You've never what?" Eijirou frowned, his face lighting up when he realized what Katsuki was trying to say. "Man, no way! You've never-"

"Shush!" Katsuki hissed, glaring at his best friend.

"But you guys were together for months-"

"Do you know how fucking hard it is to get our days off to be alined, dumbass?" Katsuki groaned, clearly just as frustrated as he was embarrassed.

"But dude-"

"Not a damn word, got it?" Katsuki gritted out, turning around in order to cling to Izuku, whose thoughts were swirling and spiraling around in his head.

"You don't... You don't think it's, you know, weird or anything, right? That we haven't..?" Izuku mumbled as Kacccan hugged him.

"Tch, of course not. Don't listen to that idiot," Katsuki grunted, placing his head on his shoulder. "And fucking relax. We won't get to be this close for at least a week after this."

That thought didn't help him relax at all, but he tried, if only for Kacchan. Of course Mineta had to pull his wall stunt again, but Kota pushed him down. The boy himself fell, too, but this time Tenya was there to catch him. He stated he'd bring him back inside, so Izuku had some more time to be with Kacchan in the hot spring.

"Go get a room you two!" Kaminari whined when Katsuki kissed him, making the ash blonde roll his eyes and release an explosion in Kaminari's face. Nobody was taking this moment away from him, not when he knew he'd go through hell the following week. Not even when he woke up panting in the middle of the night, a phantom hand still lingering on his neck, dragging him along into a dark, cold vortex.

"Are you okay?"

Katsuki hadn't noticed he bolted upright, nor that Izuku was sitting next to him, helping him calm his breathing.

"Fuck," Katsuki whispered, allowing his head to fall in his hands. The nightmare still lingered in the back of his mind. Seeing Deku run up to him with his broken and bruised body, screaming, reaching out to him... It was a horrifying image, even now. And then there was this hand, that fucking hand around his throat and he just-

"Hey, it's alright, it was just a nightmare, it's not real," Izuku whispered, rubbing his back. A nightmare or a vision, one of the two, Katsuki thought bitterly. And it had felt pretty real to him alright. "I... I couldn't sleep either... You know, nightmares."

"You had one too?" Katsuki asked quietly, raising his head a little.

"Been having them for a while now," Izuku confessed, not making eye contact with his boyfriend. "...Want to head outside for a while? Get some fresh air?"

Izuku didn't want to wake up the others, but he didn't want to leave Kacchan like this either. It was a good thing their beds were next to each other, not that any of the guys would've complained if they switched beds. Katsuki sighed and nodded, crawling up and following the green head outside. There was something eerie about being out in the woods at night, as if the forest suddenly gained a million tiny eyes, watching you from every angle. Yet the stars shone brightly in the dark sky, the moon illuminating the building as they sat down by the front door.

"I fucking hate this," Katsuki breathed. "Being back here, being a fucking target again... I hate that we can't change shit even though we know it's coming."

"We can try to, if you want to," Izuku said.

"You told me someone could die if we try to mess with this," Katsuki pointed out.

"That's true... It's just... I don't like this either, Kacchan," Izuku frowned. "There's nothing I want more than to save you from your fate, you know that. If there was anything I could do, anything at all, I would do it. Without hesitation."

"I know," Katsuki smiled. "I'd do the same for you, just so you know."

"I know," Izuku answered, letting his head lean back against the wooden wall behind them so he could look up at the sky. Katsuki did the same, silently staring at the stars together with his boyfriend.

//\\
\\//

The test of courage came before long, and Izuku felt severely underprepared. He got paired up with Eijirou, who hadn't failed his practical this time around so he didn't have to participate in the extra classes that some of the others were having back at the cabin. It almost pained him when Kacchan's turn to enter the forest came and Izuku couldn't help but ask for a goodbye kiss.

"Oh come on! You'll see him again in a few minutes!" someone complained.

"It's time to go," Katsuki sighed. "I'll see you soon, okay? Keep in touch."

The blonde tapped the side of his ear, where the comms Momo made were barely visible. Izuku nodded, giving him and Shoto one last encouraging smile before watching them enter the forest together. A forest Kacchan wouldn't leave, not with them at least.

"Come on," Eijirou sighed. "Things will turn out alright, you know they will."

Yes, that's true. Izuku had always believed that everything here followed a certain path, a certain set script. But that was before he knew that this timeline wasn't their own, not really. No, their world had been erased, reset, to make room for this new altered version. Things weren't the same and Izuku no longer believed in a set path to follow. Things could be changed, after all. Everything was possible, with a certain cost. Izuku still wasn't sure how that worked, exactly, but he reckoned it was a side effect of resetting an existing timeline.

"Good luck," Eijirou smiled, waving Ochako off as she entered the forest with Asui.

"It's going to start soon," Izuku frowned.

"I know," Eijirou said, his smile faltering. "Want my help taking down Muscular?"

"No, you'd be of better use in the field," Izuku said. "It means there is one less student safely tucked away in the cabin, but I'm sure Eraser will understand."

"Alright, I'll start heading there now," Eijirou said, tapping his earpiece. "I'll update sensei on my whereabouts as soon as things start going down."

Izuku nodded as the red head left his side unnoticed, leaving him alone with people who had no idea about what was about to happen. It was only a matter of time now. Minutes, probably. They could see smoke rising from the horizon soon enough, indicating Dabi had set fire to the forest. That would mean Mustard had already released his gas on the track of the test of courage. It didn't take long before they received the message from Mandalay to retreat to the cabin. The attack had officially begun.

He didn't waste any time lingering around, activating his quirk and darting through the trees towards the mountain, to the cliffside Kota called his secret base. He wouldn't let Muscular harm Kota in any way, even if that meant scarring himself. He just hoped the others were doing okay...

//\\
\\//

Ochako wasn't sure when it was starting, keeping her tense and on edge. Toga could be here any moment now and she wanted to be ready to counter her attack.

"There's no need to be scared, Uraraka-san," Asui smiled, noticing her tense behavior. "I'm sure the test won't be that scary."

'Oh Tsu, dear naive sweet little Tsu, you have absolutely no idea what's about to happen' Ochako thought to herself. 'We're about to meet the girl that'll give me headaches for years to come, just you wait!'. It only took a few more steps before they were attacked by Toga. The girl looked as deranged as Ochako remembered, but she also seemed more innocent, in a way. This Toga hadn't been a villain for very long, she hadn't been through all the things she would go through with the League of Villains.

She went on and on about how she needed blood for her quirk, how her support item could drain them from their blood faster than they could even imagine.

"It's a shame, really... I would've loved to cut you open~" she giggled, attacking them. Asui tried to protect Ochako by throwing her out of the way, only to get hurt instead.

"Oh you didn't," Ochako hissed, quickly jumping Toga, taking her by surprise. Ochako was stronger than her, though, and used her martial arts to hold her to the ground. There was no way she was escaping her grip! Not even when she started yammering on about how they were the same, that Toga knew they had something in common: a love interest. She couldn't be more wrong about that though, because past-Ochako might not have known it, but this Ochako was a proud lesbian.

"Loving someone means trying to become that person," Toga giggled, looking up at Ochako with her crazy bloodshot eyes. "Yes, and I love..."

She stilled, if only for a moment, her gaze turning serious before a wide smile appeared and she stabbed Ochako in her leg. Shit! She totally forgot about this part!

"I'm so sorry, Ochako-chan, but I can't stay and hang out," Toga pouted while draining her of her blood. "But we should really meet up again sometime! See you later!"

With that she somehow kicked Ochako off of her, making a run for it. Asui could've chased her, if not for the fact she was too busy making sure Ochako was okay. That and her earpiece was suddenly active, Aizawa's voice ringing through her head.

"Alright, check in. One at a time, starting with Midoriya," he called out.

"Muscular is keeping me busy," Izuku answered. "I'll come down with Kota once I've dealt with him."

"Alright, next, Bakugou and Todoroki. Are you still together?"

"Yes, we're guiding Tokoyami to Moonfish right now," Shoto told him. "We were able to slip past him on our way over to Shoji's group and are going to use Dark Shadow to defeat Moonfish before we calm him down."

"Oi, less talking and more fire!" Katsuki's voice came through. "We'll give an update once things have calmed down."

"Uraraka?" Aizawa sensei asked. She'd just gotten up from the ground, glancing around to see if they were in any immediate danger.

"All clear. Toga just attacked us but she ran away," Ochako responded, making sure Asui couldn't hear her.

"She's not supposed to do that," Izuku said. "Shit."

Izuku rarely cursed, but Ochako could understand why. Having Toga change her pattern must mean they've changed something to cause her to go off script. Was it because Eijirou was now roaming around the forest instead of hiding away back at the cabin? Was that really enough to throw their plan in disarray?

"Let's not worry about that for now. Yaoyorozu, come in," Aizawa continued until everyone had checked in, giving a status report on what they were doing.

"Come on, we should head back to camp," Asui told her. Ochako nodded, following her through the woods. Something didn't sit well with her though... The fact Toga went off script kept bothering her. She wasn't supposed to run off like that. She was supposed to stay in her captivity until others arrived, until Shoto and Katsuki were there to assist her. Then something she said came to mind. Ochako-chan. Toga wasn't supposed to know her name yet... Oh, she was getting a bad feeling about this.

//\\
\\//

Izuku managed to defeat Muscular and only broke one arm! That was a new milestone! He was carrying Kota on his back, running towards the cabin in order to drop him off and rendezvous with the Kacchan escort group. He'd already updated Aizawa on the situation, although the man himself wasn't at the cabin anymore.

"What are you going to do now?" Kota asked when Izuku dropped him off at the building. "Your arm-"

"Don't worry about me," Izuku smiled. "I'll be fine, I'm just going to go over and help the others, okay? You go inside, the heroes will protect you."

He made sure Kota went inside before running off again. Izuku knew where Kacchan was right now, since he was forced to give them an update every few minutes to make sure he wasn't taken. Mr Compress could be a sneaky bastard, after all. Izuku didn't expect to be tackled out of mid air, getting straddled by none other than Toga. So that's where she ran off to...

"Found you~!" she giggled, holding a knife pressed to Izuku's throat. "You're hard to pin down, you know that Deku-kun?"

"What do you want from me?" Izuku asked, wanting to go to Kacchan as fast as possible. Toga wasn't his priority right now.

"I wanna cut you open, make you bleed," she whispered, mentally indulging in her fantasy. "But that's something for later, when I take you with me~"

"Take me-" Izuku breathed, unable to finish his sentence as Toga pressed her knife even harder on his skin. Izuku had no idea how she hadn't drawn blood yet.

"Of course! You're coming with me and my friends, aren't you?" she giggled.

"And why do you think I'll just come with you?" Izuku asked.

"Because you'd do anything to save your precious Kacchan~"

//\\
\\//

Katsuki was getting anxious. Were they walking this long the first time around? He had the feeling he should've been taken by now, that Compress should've put him away in some weird marble and that the class should've already been scrambling about to save him. It set him on edge, small pops escaping his palms, like firecrackers.

"It's taking too long," he muttered to Shoto, who was walking next to him.

"Maybe we're escorting you too well? Aren't giving him enough of an opportunity?" Shoto suggested, making sure the other didn't hear.

"Tch, don't make me laugh, I could've been taken at least six times by now," Katsuki scoffed, glancing around. "Something is wrong."

"There you are!"

They ran into a lot of other students, Eijirou and Tenya were among them, looking surprised to see Katsuki. They were almost back at the cabin now... Fuck! Katsuki knew he was right! He should've been taken ages ago!

"The villains are retreating!" someone called out, confusing him even more.

"Where the hell are they? Where did they take me last time?" Katsuki asked, grabbing Eijirou.

"The field-" the red head told him, but he wasn't able to finish his sentence. "Katsuki, wait!"

Katsuki did, in fact, not wait. He used his quirk, blasting through the forest despite the protests of classmates. Izuku hadn't been there. He hadn't seen Deku since the test of courage started and he was supposed to be in his escort detail, so where the hell was he?! Katsuki burst out from the foliage, barging into the clearing, where Eraserhead and some of the Pussycats were gathered, as well as the League of Villains' Vanguard. The portal was open, they were escaping- Why the hell was nobody doing anything?!

Then Katsuki saw.

Saw the love of his life being held by Toga with a knife to his throat as they backed away into the hole. No... No!

"Deku!" he called out, making the green head look at him with a sad smile. Fuck! That self-sacrificing shit! Katsuki blasted himself forward in order to reach him, to pull him out of there, to save him-

"I'm sorry, Kacchan," he breathed, as he was absorbed by the darkness. The portal closed, and Katsuki was just too late, just out of reach, unable to save the boy he loved for most of his life.

"IZUKU!"